Just picked up an older Yonex RDX 500 Mid. Had some ups and downs (the good shots were GREAT, and the not so good shots were AWFUL). I'm sure it was mostly user error, but what are people's experiences with the Yonex head shape. I know it's been discussed, but I didn't feel like digging through old threads.

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"I think the myth of the pusher is actually the tale of the sore loser." - GuyClinch

Just picked up an older Yonex RDX 500 Mid. Had some ups and downs (the good shots were GREAT, and the not so good shots were AWFUL). I'm sure it was mostly user error, but what are people's experiences with the Yonex head shape. I know it's been discussed, but I didn't feel like digging through old threads.

Love the head shape, some of their newer frames are a little more square looking then others. The Ezone is a little more square then the Vcore, but the forgiveness is unparalleled in the industry. If you can adjust to the visual you can/will quickly become addicted to yonex frames.....but some people cannot get past that visual.

It's axiomatic that when something's been around for as long as this thing has and hasn't become very popular, it has no real advantage.

Not necessarily. Other companies may have expanded more, marketed more, had other features, etc.

The Mac is a good example. For those who love them (I don't), it is a case of a clearly advantageous product which managed to find only a niche market, due to hardware monopoly and cost, and more aggressive marketing of cheaper alternatives.

The headshape is awesome for spin hitters. It widens the sweet spot and works really well. I was really impressed with the 200 RDIS, but the newer YYs are stiffer than I prefer.

You have been experimenting with high swingweights lately. why dont you demo the VCORE 97 Tour 330? Specs are similar to the Wilson 6.1 according to Carol from TW (she said that in her review). And, it should feel less stiff than the 95 D I suppose, its thinner beamed if that has to do anything with it.

Wider sweetspot from 3 to 9 makes it more forgiving and spin friendly off the ground. Narrower sweetpot from 12 to 6 makes is less forgiving and powerful on serves and overheads. Not quite sure how this would effect the volley stroke.

You have been experimenting with high swingweights lately. why dont you demo the VCORE 97 Tour 330? Specs are similar to the Wilson 6.1 according to Carol from TW (she said that in her review). And, it should feel less stiff than the 95 D I suppose, its thinner beamed if that has to do anything with it.

The Iso shape they use offers a pretty large sweet spot. This allowed me to use higher tension and still have large enough sweet spot to have good control and not pop strings on mis-hits. My strings are .65mm thick (22 gauge)...

Yonex started to round out their head designs in the last few years with the new Z-slash line and I noticed that the sweetspot was smaller BUT I got a bit more power out of it and it felt (when you hit it dead on) that the shuttle just exploded out of the racquet. It's still an iso shape but not as much

You can see the difference between a Nanospeed 9900 vs Z-slash.

(quite a few images if you google it).

For me in badminton I like the hybrid between oval and iso. Gives it a little more punch than the iso shape but not such a small sweet-spot as an oval.

The Iso shape they use offers a pretty large sweet spot. This allowed me to use higher tension and still have large enough sweet spot to have good control and not pop strings on mis-hits. My strings are .65mm thick (22 gauge)...

Yonex started to round out their head designs in the last few years with the new Z-slash line and I noticed that the sweetspot was smaller BUT I got a bit more power out of it and it felt (when you hit it dead on) that the shuttle just exploded out of the racquet. It's still an iso shape but not as much

You can see the difference between a Nanospeed 9900 vs Z-slash.

(quite a few images if you google it).

For me in badminton I like the hybrid between oval and iso. Gives it a little more punch than the iso shape but not such a small sweet-spot as an oval.

Did you just weigh in discussing badminton sticks? Just making sure...

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"I think the myth of the pusher is actually the tale of the sore loser." - GuyClinch

I've been using the RDS 001 Mid for... maybe 6 years now? However many years it's been out. It's the original bright yellow one.

Realistically, I think what it does is extend the sweetspot at the cost of a really awesome sweetspot.

Pros: Less difference in feel/control/power/spin when hitting different part of the stringbed.

Cons: Hitting dead center does not give you as good of feel/control/power/spin as a regular head racket.

At least that's my experience. I really like it since I prefer more predictability, and I'm not a "hit it dead center everytime" player.

I think this is the most logical explanation. I also wonder how the isometric head shape effects the timing or so. I'm asking because today i have played with rdis 200 for the first time and my game was totally broken, i'm pretty sure it's a matter of getting used to and i need some time but just wondering why the head shape effects your game.

I really like it since I prefer more predictability, and I'm not a "hit it dead center everytime" player.

I don't think anybody is. A video study done recently showed that Djoker, Fed and Nadal all missed the center of the strings more often than they hit it. If you're swinging fast and steep for spin you're just not going to hit the middle of the strings all the time, even if you're a Goat or a Goat contender.

I think somebody mentioned it above, but I think the biggest advantage of the Isometric shape is how friendly it is to hitting with spin. When swinging fast and steep at a ball at waist height, the ball enters the racquet's "spin window" at around 10 or 11 o'clock and exits around 4 or 5 o'clock. If you're a bit early on your swing you'll clip at 10 or 11 and if you're a bit late you'll catch the frame at 4 or 5. The Yonex heads, being more squared off, are wider at these positions. So much so that, when hitting with topspin, a Yonex 98 offers the effective spin window of some brands' 104 square-inch frames. So you get the forgiveness of a larger frame but the precision of a smaller frame, or at least it seems so. There are other brands that have headshapes that offer big spin windows too - Prince, Bab, the old Speeds, the Blade 104, etc.

I've been using Yonex for 10+ yrs now and I don't see myself ever switching.

Recently I was interested in going for a Mid+ perhaps and it seemed like the Prestige Pro was perfect for the specs I wanted. But damn, it's 8sq" larger than my Yonex and still it's got a smaller sweetspot.

Another thing that the iso head gives is that the benefit of stringing the mains and crosses at different tensions seems really amplified.

racertempo
Patents are not forever. In the US and Europe, patents typically run 20 years from the time of filing (so usually much less than 20 years in practice), in Asia they're often shorter. So anybody can make an isometric head racquet as Yonex has been doing it for much more than 20 years.